Friday, September 27, 2013

Supporters of radical immigration reform in the US are trying to persuade President Obama to use his presidential powers to cut through the 'gridlock' in Washington and introduce immigration reform. They have urged the President to act to allow illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship.

The White House has said that the President has no intention of doing so and has said that any change in the law must be a matter for Congress. US constitutional lawyers say the President's powers would not enable him to make such a change. Nonetheless, some Republicans suspect that this is the President's intention and have warned him not to try.

Supporters of immigration reform suspect that a comprehensive immigration reform bill that has been passed by the Senate is unlikely to be passed by the House of Representatives where they believe it will be opposed by Republicans.

'The President has a duty to act'

Speaking on 15th September 2013, Ana Avendano of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) told Fox News 'If Congress doesn't move, the President has a duty to act' she added 'Just because the Republicans have buried their heads in the sand, doesn't mean that immigrant communities aren't feeling the sting of constant deportations.

However, White House spokesman Bobby Whithorne has definitively ruled this out. He said 'The only way to bring 11 million undocumented individuals out of the shadow economy is for Congress to pass common-sense reform…That's it. Full stop'.

At this point, if you are not an American, you might need a quick tutorial in US Constitutional law. Under the American Constitution, for a bill to become law it must be passed by both Houses of Congress; the upper house, The Senate, and the lower house, The House of Representatives (known as 'the House').

Presidential veto

The President does not even have a vote in Congress. If both houses pass a law, the President must then sign it for it to become law. If he doesn't sign it, it does not become law. This gives him a veto.

Power in Congress is currently split; the Democrats control the Senate and the Republicans control the House. This means that, in order to get any bill through Congress, the President and his Democratic colleagues require some cooperation from the Republicans.

During the 2012 Presidential election campaign, President Obama promised to make comprehensive immigration reform a priority if he was re-elected. He was re-elected and yet, nearly a year later, there has been no reform. This has not been for want of trying.

Gang of Eight

A comprehensive immigration reform bill was drafted by a bipartisan group of eight senators (the so called 'Gang of Eight'; four Republicans and four Democrats) and it has been debated at length in both houses of Congress. In July it was passed by the Senate. It must now be passed by the House to become law.

Some House Republicans, including former Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, support reform but the majority don't.

Bipartisan support has become increasingly rare in Washington since 2009; the time when the Tea Party, a right-wing faction within the Republican Party, began to exert control over Republican Congressmen and women. Since the birth of the Tea Party, Washington Republicans have opposed every measure supported by the President.

White House stepped back

It was for this reason that the White House did not draft the immigration reform bill currently before Congress. The President left this to the Gang of Eight in the hope that Republicans might support it.

The Gang of Eight drafted a bill that would

• Create a 'pathway to citizenship for the majority of the estimated 11.5m people living in the US illegally

Increase the cap on H-1B temporary work visas for graduates from 85,000 per year to over 200,000 per year

Increase the number of work related green cards (permanent resident visas) for international science, technology, engineering and maths graduates from US universities

Increase border security spending by $4.5bn per year

Create a 'w-visa' for low skilled workers in construction and agriculture

House Republicans look set to oppose the bill, if they vote on it. This is because of the bill's most controversial innovation; the establishment of 'a pathway to citizenship'.

Illegal residents could apply for legal status

If the bill became law, illegal residents without criminal convictions could apply for probationary legal resident status. They would have to pay a $500 fine for entering the country illegally and a sum to compensate the US for taxes that they should have paid whilst working illegally.

They would have to learn English and then, much later, they could apply for permanent resident status and finally citizenship. The process would take about 15 years.

Many Republicans in Congress oppose the creation of this 'pathway' because

To do so would reward the criminal act of entering the country illegally and encourage more illegal immigration and

Most illegal immigrants, if given the vote, would vote Democrat

Republicans will not support pathway

Some House Republicans have said that they will not vote for any bill that contains provision for the 'pathway to citizenship'. They intend to prevent the President passing legislation and now suspect that he will use his executive powers to drive through the change in any event.

Representative Raul Labrador from Idaho said 'I think that's actually what Obama wants to do. I think he wants Congress not to pass something so he can do it on his own and he can take the credit for it'.

President 'needs to be very careful'

He added 'He needs to be very careful though because if he continues to flout the law…Congress is going to have enough'. By this, Mr Labrador seems to mean that Congress may vote to impeach the President.

Pro-reform campaigners continue to lobby House Republicans in an attempt to get them to vote for reform. In such a highly-charged atmosphere, it seems unlikely that they will have much success.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, is on an official visit to the UK and has held talks with senior
UK politicians about the UK's visa regime for New Zealanders. In recent years,
it has become harder for most New Zealanders to live in the UK.

Mr
Key visited the UK having been invited by Queen Elizabeth II to stay for the
weekend at her Scottish retreat Balmoral. While in the UK he held talks with Mr
Cameron, with the UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague and with the Mayor of
London Boris Johnson. New Zealanders' rights to work in the UK were at the top
of the agenda.

Mr Key told The New Zealand Herald that New Zealand's
historical and cultural links to the UK would make it 'grossly unfair' to
further erode New Zealanders rights to work in the UK.

New Zealanders able to work in UK until 1973

Until 1973, New Zealanders and Australians were able to
work freely in the UK. Then Britain joined the European Economic Community and
this freedom was curtailed. More recently, after a period of an 'open door
immigration policy' with net immigration reaching about 250,000 a year between
1997 and 2010 under the last Labour government, Mr Cameron's Coalition
government came to power promising to cut immigration to below 100,000 a
year.

The government has introduced numerous changes to the UK's visa
regime and has so far cut immigration to about 150,000 a year. The government
intends to continue to make efforts to cut the figure to 100,000 by 2015. Mr Key
fears that this may mean that it will become even harder for New Zealanders to
work in the UK.

The New Zealand Herald reports that recent visa
restrictions mean that only 350 New Zealanders move to the UK to work each year
with Tier 2 (General) work visas.

London mayor wants Australians/New Zealanders to be able to work freely in
UK

Mr Key has some support within the UK's corridors of power. Last
month, Boris Johnson, mayor of London, wrote a newspaper column calling for
Australians and New Zealanders to be given the unfettered right to live and work
in the UK. Mr Johnson suggested a 'Bilateral Free Labour Mobility Zone' between
Australia and the
UK.

By extension, he was calling for a similar arrangement with New
Zealand. Mr Johnson did admit that this might cause problems with the European
Union but said that they should be told to 'stuff it'.
Mr Key has also
indicated that he is concerned that the UK might be considering ending the
reciprocal Youth Mobility Scheme agreement which allows young people from New
Zealand to work in the UK and, conversely, young people from the UK to work in
New Zealand.

To stop New Zealanders working in UK would be 'grossly unfair'

Mr
Key said 'We would think it grossly unfair and not representative of the
historical ties. Those ties and bonds remain strong but…it's important we
continue to make the case for New Zealanders' birth right to spend a couple of
years working in the UK.

The government has not recently announced
any plans to cut the Youth Mobility Scheme. The scheme allows young people from
several countries, including Australia and New Zealand, to apply for a Tier 5
temporary work visa. 22,500 Australians and 10,000 New Zealanders are allowed to
apply annually. They can stay in the UK for two years and are allowed to
work.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

John Vine, the UK's chief
independent inspector of borders and immigration, has released a report which
criticises the UK's Home Office for the quality and promptness of its decision
making on Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visas. The report states that the Home Office
did not keep adequate records, made decisions based on flawed evidence and
allowed a backlog of nearly 10,000 cases to build up in 2012.

Mr Vine
issued his report on 12th September 2013. It was titled An Inspection of
applications to enter and remain in the UK under the Tier 1 Investor and
Entrepreneur categories of the Points Based System December 2012 – May
2013.

Tier 1 (Investor) visas allow wealthy individuals to acquire UK resident visas which last for
a maximum of three years and four months. To qualify, you require at least £1m
out of which you will need to invest £750,000 in approved UK investment
vehicles, with the remaining £250,000 being spent on assets or put on deposit in
the UK. Investor visas can be renewed.

91% of Tier 1 (Investor) decisions were 'reasonable'

Mr Vine's
report found that 91% of Home Office decisions on Tier 1 (Investor) applications
were 'reasonable'. By this, he meant that they were decisions which were made
according to the rules and were supported by evidence. They were therefore
defensible and probably correct. There were around 600 applications made in
2012.

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visas allow non-EU nationals with access
to at least £50,000 to invest in a business and a viable business plan to apply
for a UK visa. These visas also last for three years and four months and can be
renewed. In the case of Entrepreneur visas, Mr Vine's team found that no more
than 62.5% of these applications were reasonable.

Mr Vine's reports
says that the number of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) applications increased by 1,520%
over the course of 2012 after the UK government closed down the Tier 1 (Post
Study Work) visa in April 2012. The Post Study Work visa allowed international
graduates to work in the UK for two years after graduation.

Insufficient staff working on Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
applications

There were, therefore, insufficient staff working on Tier 1
(Entrepreneur) applications and it failed to meet its own performance targets
for either the Investor visa or the Entrepreneur visa in almost every month of
2012. By March 2013, a backlog of 9,191 entrepreneur applications had
accumulated. It has since been reduced but Mr Vine says that this should have
happened sooner.

The team asked to inspect a sample of 90
entrepreneur applications. In over 40% of these files, the inspectors found that
the Home Office had not kept enough evidence of the work undertaken on the file
so the inspectors were unable to determine whether the decision had been
reasonable or not. In 39 of these 41 cases, the applicant was granted a Tier 1
entrepreneur visa.

Mr Vine says that, in cases where the files were
properly kept and could, therefore, be inspected, staff had made decisions based
on inadequate evidence. For example, they had accepted an applicant's word that
he had sufficient funds to qualify for the visa without sufficient evidence to
support that claim.

Files left unsecured overnight

The inspectors also found that, at
the Home Office's Sheffield office, application files were left unsecured and
unattended in open crates overnight. Mr Vine said that this was a breach of the
Home Office's Data Protection Act duty to protect potentially sensitive
information. He said that this situation should be rectified.

Mr
Vine recommends that the Home Office should• Improves the quality of its
decision making• Ensure that files are kept securely

Ensure that staff are informed of the rationale behind appeal decisions so
that they can make decisions that are in accordance with the current rules

Takes steps to foresee and prevent build-ups in applications of any sort

Ensure that it keeps files properly so that reasons for decisions are
recorded.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the British-based, Indian-owned car manufacturer
announced an investment of £1.5bn in its UK car businesses on 9th
September 2013. This was a triumph for JLR which has undergone a renaissance
since being taken over by India's Tata Group in 2008.

The investment
will create 1,700 new jobs in the UK, mostly at the Land Rover plant in
Solihull, West Midlands. The unions have welcomed the creation of the jobs. Len
McCluskey of the Unite union said 'JLR is a great British success story and this
new investment in jobs and skills ought to maintain its global reputation for
world-class vehicles'.

The UK's Prime Minister, David Cameron, said
that the investment was a 'huge vote of confidence in the UK' and sought to take
some of the credit for the investment. He said that the government would
'continue to back the automotive sector'.

JLR a triumph of the global economy

However, perhaps the investment
should be seen as a triumph of the global economy and immigration. For, although
JLR is based in Britain, it was rescued by an American company before being sold
to new Indian owners. It has a German chief executive.

Many of its
engineers come from outside the European Union and work in the UK with Tier 2 skilled worker
visas. It is currently thriving because of greatly increased sales around the
world but particularly in China. It is a truly global story.

The Tata
Group took over Jaguar Land Rover in 2008. Ford had bought Jaguar in 1989 after
it had been demerged from the nationalised British car maker British Leyland in
1984. Ford then bought Land Rover, which had also been part of British Leyland,
from BMW in 2000.

Ford sold JLR to Tata

Ford put considerable resources into
developing new models for both firms but sold them to Tata despite the fact that
they were profitable. Ford was experiencing problems in the US and sold
businesses that were not central to its business model. Tata bought JLR for
£1bn.

In 2008, when the sale was announced, unions and commentators
alike speculated that Tata would take the valuable car marques and move
production to India. Tata promised that it would not do so. It committed to
Ford's existing 5-year spending plan in the UK. This comes to an end in 2013.
The announcement of the latest investment shows that Tata intends to maintain
its presence in the UK.

And perhaps this is not surprising. Jaguar
Land Rover is making a profit of £1.5bn annually. Much of this comes because of
increased sales in China where the financial crisis that has been crippling
European markets has hardly been felt.

Tata takeover has been a success, despite initial fears

Despite the
initial fears of the unions and employees about their new Indian owners, The
Tata takeover of JLR has been a positive experience for the firm and its
workers. The firm has increased sales and profits.

This compares well
with the experience of another English car marque, Rover. Rover, which had also
once been part of British Leyland, was run by German car firm BMW between 1988
and 2000 before being sold to Phoenix Venture Holdings, a company run by four
English businessmen.

Phoenix, bought Rover from BMW for £10. BMW
agreed to make a 'dowry payment' of £500m into Rover on sale. Nonetheless, the
Phoenix Four (as they became known) drove Rover into insolvency within five
years. The Phoenix Four were later criticised by MPs for a failure to invest in
new models and for personally taking £42m out of the business in dividends as it
spiralled towards collapse.

No plans for a new Rover

In 2006, Tata bought the now-defunct Rover
marque from BMW for £6m. There are no plans at present for new Rover cars to be
built.

In 2012, Ian Callum, Jaguar's director of design, told
Marketing Week magazine that Tata has given Jaguar and Land Rover the freedom to
run themselves. He said 'Tata has been decisive in choosing the management, but
once they're in place they leave people to get on with it, unlike Ford. They're
long-term, committed, patient owners. All the things you want'.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

The New Zealand immigration minister has announced that Albert Buitenuis, a South African chef, will be
allowed to stay in the country. This reversed an earlier decision that he should
be deported because he was too fat and was therefore likely to be a drain on the
public health service. He has been granted a 2-year temporary resident
visa.

Mr Buitenhuis left South Africa for New Zealand in 2007 and was
given an Essential Skills work visa which allowed him to work as a chef. He
settled in the city of Christchurch. At this point he weighed 160kg (25 stone).
By 2013, he had lost 30 kg (about 5 stone) and now weighs about 20 stone
(130kg). Mr Buitenhuis is 5 foot ten (1.78m)

But when he applied for
a residence visa in 2013, he was refused on health grounds. It was left that his
state of health meant that he was likely to require treatment from New Zealand's
public health service.

Important to minimise demands on New Zealand health services

A
spokesman for Immigration New Zealand, Michael Carley, said 'It is important that all migrants have an
acceptable standard of health to minimize the costs and demands on New Zealand's
health services'.

Mr Carley also explained that the reason why Mr
Buitenhuis had been able to qualify for an Essential Skills visa in 2007 but had
been refused a resident visa in 2013 was that the minimum acceptable level of
health required for Essential Skills visas and resident visas are
different.

He added that Mr Buitenhuis had an enlarged, fatty liver
and a bad knee and said that this might have affected the decision of
immigration officials to refuse his application..

Chef had nowhere else to go

Mr Buitenhuis decided to appeal the
decision. At the time, he told Australian broadcaster ABC that he wanted to stay
in New Zealand because he had nowhere to go having sold his property in South
Africa. His only relative, a sister, also lived in New Zealand. He added that he
was now penniless having been barred from working since his visa application was
refused.

On 9th September 2013, the BBC reported that Mr Buitenhuis's
appeal had been successful. Associate immigration minister Nikki Kaye told the
BBC that the main reason for the original refusal of Mr Buitenhuis's application
was that he had osteoarthritis in his knee which was likely to require treatment
which would have imposed costs on the New Zealand taxpayer.

Couple awarded two year extensions

But Ms Kaye said that Mr
Buitenhuis and his wife Marthie would be granted two year extensions on their
New Zealand visas with the proviso that Mr Buitenhuis would be barred from
accessing the public health system during that time.

Mr and Mrs
Buitenhuis say that they are pleased with the result but upset that they are now
penniless and fear for their futures. Mr Buitenhuis hopes to lose another 25
kilograms (4 stone) over the coming months.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

FWD.us, the online pro-immigration pressure group founded by Mark Zuckerberg,
the founder of Facebook and other titans of the IT industry, has held a 'Day of
Action' to put pressure on members of the US House of Representatives to
back immigration reform legislation this autumn.

FWD.us was founded
by Zuckerberg along with others including Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, Reid
Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Drew Houston, founder of Dropbox. It
supports reform of the US immigration system so that IT firms can employ more
talented workers from around the world.

At present, they say, the US
immigration system is so slow and restrictive that talented workers are unable
to get visas. This, they say, is damaging the US economy.

Pro-immigration 'Twitter storm'

On Tuesday 10th September 2013,
FWD.us encouraged its supporters to email their Representative in Congress,
urging them to back reform. The group also urged supporters to use their Twitter
accounts to tweet at their Congressional representatives asking them to retweet
the message. FWD.us hoped to create a 'Twitter storm' in favour of
reform.

The US Congress has just returned to Washington after its
summer break. In June, the upper House of Congress, The Senate, passed The
Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act 2013 by
68 votes to 32. This bill would, if it became law, introduce many of the changes
that FWD.us wish to see. However, for that to happen, it must also be passed by
the lower house; The House of Representatives.

Unfortunately for
advocates of reform, many Republican Representatives say they will vote against
the bill. In addition, the speaker of the House, John Boehner, A Republican, has
said he will not even allow a vote on the bill unless a majority of Republican
Representatives say they support it.

Bar set unreasonably high

This, reformers say, sets the bar
unreasonably high; The House has 435 seats. 234 of these are held by Republicans
and 201 by Democrats. To become law, the bill must get 261 votes (60% support).
Given that most Democrats support reform, numerically, the bill should only
require the support of about 60 Republicans.

Pro-reformers believe
that they have this level of support but Boehner says he will not allow a vote
unless the bill has the support of 117 Republicans.

This is unlikely.
Washington is, more than ever, split along party lines and cross-party
cooperation is rare. President Obama's Presidency has been accompanied by a rise
in the number of 'Tea Party' backed Republican congressmen and women. These
extreme right-wing Republicans believe that President Obama is 'a socialist' and
are against big government, taxes and immigration.

Republicans oppose Obama's policies

The Republicans have fought all
the President's policies. They have forced wholesale alterations to his
healthcare reforms and have even refused to agree a new federal budget. This has
seen the Federal government hamstrung. Federal agencies have been sending staff
on 'furloughs' (unpaid leave) and waiting lists are rising in the courts and
other government services.

Most recently, Republican members of the
House of Representatives looked set to vote against the President over proposed
military intervention in Syria. The President had called for retaliation against
the Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack on a suburb of Damascus and
asked Congress to support it.

Despite the fact that the Republicans
have traditionally been the more likely party to back military action - George W
Bush who decided to invade Iraq and Afghanistan was a Republican - many
Republicans indicated they would vote against President Obama's proposal to take
military action. The vote was not held in the end because of a Russian proposal
for the Syrians to put their chemical weapons beyond use. Politicians from the
US, Russia, Syria and Europe
are examining the possibility of a peaceful solution.

Reform bill provisions

If the bill became law it would

Create a 'pathway to citizenship' allowing the estimated 11.5 illegal
immigrants in the US to progress towards citizenship. They would have to
register with the government, pay a fine for entering the country illegally and
a sum to compensate the government for taxes they should have paid when working
illegally. They could then become legally resident and ultimately, acquire
citizenship. The 'pathway' could take up to fifteen years to complete.

Massively increase the number of H-1B temporary work visas that can be
issued annually. At present, there is a cap of 65,000 on the number of H-1Bs
that can be granted to international workers. They must be graduates (or have
knowledge and skills to a graduate level) and work in the US in a 'specialty
occupation'. There is also a cap of 20,000 on the number of H-1Bs that can be
granted to those with higher degrees such as doctorates and PhDs. The Act would
increase the basic cap to 130,000 immediately, with a possibility that it could
rise to 180,000 in times of high demand. The cap on those higher degrees would
be scrapped altogether.

Create a 'w-visa' for low skilled workers in agriculture and construction.
About 30,000 w-visas would be issued annually.

Republicans oppose pathway to citizenship

Republicans object in
particular to the 'pathway to citizenship'. This provision, they say, would
reward those who entered the country illegally for their illegal behaviour and
would attract yet more illegal immigrants to the country.

Immigration looks set to stay in the Washington headlines for the
rest of this year at least.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The UK's immigration minister,
Mark Harper, has announced changes to the UK's immigration rules designed to
make the UK more attractive as a destination for international businesses. He
also announced measures designed to attract international students to the UK.
The changes will come into force on 1st October 2013.

Mr Harper
issued a written Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules to parliament on
6th September 2013. It lays out many small changes to the rules. Among these are
changes designed to make the UK more attractive to international businesses.
These changes affect UK work visas such as Tier 1 visas for 'high value
migrants' and Tier 2 visas for 'skilled workers'. These are

Removing the English language requirement for intra-company transferees –
(At present, workers who come to the UK with a Tier 2 (Intra Company Transfer)
visa must pass an English language test if they are intending to stay in the UK
for over three years).

Making it easier for those in the UK with Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur)
visas to switch to the Tier 2 skilled worker visa. Up to 2,000 graduate
entrepreneur visas are available annually to international graduates of UK
universities with attractive business ideas.

New provision in Tier 1 to make it easier for 'artists of exceptional
promise' to qualify for UK visas. Exceptional Talent visas are granted to people
who are 'internationally recognised as world leaders or potential world-leading
talent in the fields of science and the arts, and who wish to work in the UK'.
At present, it is extremely difficult to qualify for the Tier 1 (Exceptional
Talent) visa and only about 70 people in total, scientists and artists,
qualified in 2012. No details of the changes have been provided.

Removing the restrictions on share ownership that apply to high-earning
staff. Tier 2 (Intra Company Transfer) staff are not currently permitted to own
more than 10% of the shares in a company which sponsors their Tier 2visa
application)

Other changes

Mr Harper also announced several other changes which
he hopes will make economic routes 'more attractive and more flexible for
businesses'. These are

Allowing some students in the UK with Tier 4 student visas to
carry out work internships in the UK (They will be able to work with a Tier 5
(Government Authorised Exchange) visas

Allowing business visitors to take part in a greater range of activities in
the UK. These would include attending training courses

Both business visitors and tourists will be allowed to take part in some
study 'where is incidental to the main purpose of their visit'.

Mr Harper told journalists that the changes would 'ensure that
the UK continues to attract global talent to work for British businesses and
study at our world-class universities'.

Friday, September 13, 2013

The UK's opposition Labour
Party has accused the government of presiding over an immigration system in
chaos. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, told the House of Commons that
the government was complacent and said that the government's 'only answer to
illegal immigration is to get a man in a van to drive round in circles with a
poster asking if they'd mind going home'.

Ms Cooper was speaking in
parliament after the UK's National Audit Office (NAO) released a report into the
working of the UK's Border Force; the body with responsibility for policing the
UK's 138 ports, airports and international rail termini.

The report
stated that the Border Force had had its staff cut by 6% between 2010 and 2013
by the Coalition government. It stated that this had resulted in the Border
Force having to make difficult choices in its policing of the border.

Passport queues down

The report stated that a new 'real-time staff
deployment model' at Heathrow had allowed staff to be deployed to areas where
they were needed quickly. It said that other innovations had also resulted in a
significantly reduced the amount of time visitors wait in passport queues at UK
rail, air and sea ports.

In 2012, 99% of people arriving at UK ports and airports cleared
passport control within the target time of 25 minutes. This had improved from
only 81% in the previous year. This improvement was made even though the UK
played host to the Olympics and the Paralympic Games in the summer of
2012.

However, the report stated that this had meant that the Border
Force had had to cut back on other checks. Louise Bladen, the director of the
NAO, told The BBC Radio 4 Today Programme that there was a danger that the
country was less safe as a result.

'Secondary controls' compromised

She said 'I think the Border Force
may find it hard to say what may be coming into the country as a result of not
being able to fully do the duties that they need to do on secondary controls
[such as carrying out checks for illegal immigrants and
contraband]'.

The report states that, on a visit to Calais to inspect
the work of the Border Force post there, 'we observed officers being taken off
controls to detect clandestine illegal entrants to the UK concealed in lorries
in order to deal with passenger queues'.

Ms Bladen told the BBC that
the Border Force had focused on the length of passport queues at the expense of
other equally important work because some in the Border Force mistakenly thought
that this was what the Home Office wanted.

She said that the Border
Force seems to have focused on passport queues as their major priority because
they had to report on this subject once a week directly to the Home Secretary.
This gave management the impression that passport queues were a higher priority
than other duties, such as checking for contraband or illegal stowaways.

Other matters treated as lesser priorities

While Border Force
had to report on these matters too, they had to do so less frequently and the
figures were given to civil servants, not to the minister. They therefore
treated these other matters as lesser priorities.

The report says
that the Border Force is suffering from low morale, underfunding and suffers
from 'a culture of fear'. It also said that the UK's Warnings Index, the
computerised passport database used to trace potentially dangerous arrivals at
UK ports, is out of date and 'at risk of collapsing'.

But Immigration
Minister Mark Harper said that the UK has one of the safest borders in the
world. He said ', Border Force will continue to build on its many areas of
excellence. We have recruited more Border Force staff, established command
centres to deploy those staff more flexibly and effectively and are reforming
working practices'.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Australian government figures show that there has been a large increase in the
number of working holiday visas issued. These visas are for young people from
overseas and enables them to live and work and holiday in Australia for one year
extendable in some situations for another year. It seems likely that in future
years the number of visas issued will increase yet further as citizens of more
countries become eligible to apply.

The Working Holiday (Subclass
417) visa program allows people from several countries aged between 18 and 30 to
work while travelling in Australia. The Working Holiday visa is valid for 12
months. Visa holders who have worked for at least three months in a designated
rural area can apply for a second 417 visa which will also last for 12
months.

417 visa holders can work in any job they can find but must
not stay in one job for more than six months.

Three countries eligible since 1975

Australia first issued working
holiday visas in 1975. Then, citizens of only three countries were eligible to
apply for them;

The UK

Canada and

Ireland

Australia established the
working holiday visa programme after signing treaties which created reciprocal
rights for young Australians travelling in those countries.

Since
then, Australia has signed similar treaties to issue 417 visas to citizens of 16
other countries. These are;

Japan

South Korea

Malta

Germany

Sweden

Norway

Denmark

Hong Kong

Finland

Cyprus

Italy

France

Taiwan

Belgium

Estonia and

Netherlands

No cap on 417 visas

Citizens of all these countries can now apply
for 417 visas. There is no cap on the number of 417 visas that can be issued and
the number of people applying has increased in recent years.

The
Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) says that 210,369
first working holiday visas were issued in 2012/13. The top five countries
were

United Kingdom – 38,782 (up 8.6%)

South Korea – 29,614 (up 8.1%)

Taiwan – 28,599 (up 57%)

Germany – 24,687 (up 17%)

France – 22,539 (up 22.6%)

DIAC notes that there were also
large increases in the number of working holiday visas granted for Italy (up
64%) and Hong Kong (up 50%).

There were also 38,862 second Working
Holiday visas issued in 2012/13 to backpackers who had completed three months
working in a designated rural area.

Numbers increased since 2008 financial crisis

The Australian news
site News Limited Network suggests that the increase in the number of working
holiday makers travelling to Australia can be explained by the financial crisis
of 2008 and the lack of jobs for young people in Europe and elsewhere.

Australia also issues 'Work and Holiday Visas' to citizens of ten
other countries. These subclass 462 visas are similar to 417 visas but there is
often a cap on the number that can be issued to citizens of any one
country.

People from the following countries are eligible for 462
visas.

Thailand (cap 500)

Chile (1500)

Turkey (100)

USA (No cap)

Malaysia (100)

Indonesia (1000)

Bangladesh (100)

Argentina (500)

Uruguay (200)

Papua New Guinea (not yet in force. 100 visas will be available)

Australia negotiating with 13 more countries

The Australian
government is currently in negotiations with 13 more countries and is expected
to sign reciprocal treaties with them soon. Citizens of these countries will be
able to apply for subclass 417 visas.

Those countries are

Andorra

The Czech Republic

Greece

Hungary

Israel

Latvia

Mexico

Poland

Portugal

San Marino

Slovak Republic

Spain

Vietnam

Working holiday visas provide great opportunities
for young people to travel and work in Australia. They also provide great
opportunities for young Australians to see the world because Australians have
similar rights to travel and work in all countries eligible for 417 and 462
visas.

Not everyone is in favour. Research by The Centre for
Population and Urban Research at Monash University, Melbourne, has found that
there are as many backpackers in Australia as school leavers. They say that this
is preventing Australian school leavers from getting entry level
jobs.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

A noted UK celebrity chef has
said that his restaurants would close immediately if it were not for immigrants
coming to the UK from Europe.

Jamie Oliver, perhaps the most famous
chef in the world, has made numerous television programmes and sold millions of
books. His wealth has been estimated at over £150m. In the UK, he has over 30
restaurants. Most are part of his Jamie's Italian chain. His other chain of
restaurants the 'Fifteen' chain has three restaurants that provides training for
disadvantaged young people.

Oliver has given an interview to Good
Housekeeping Magazine, a UK
woman's publication, in which he said that EU immigrants seem to work harder
than UK workers.

Without European migrants restaurants would close

He said 'If we
didn't have any [European migrants] all of my restaurants would close tomorrow.
There wouldn't be any Brits to replace them'.

He said that young
Britons no doubt had a good range of skills but said 'long hours in hot
restaurants is not one of them'. He complained that British youths seem to be
unable to cope with the long hours and hard work. He said 'I have never seen
anyone so wet behind the ears. I have mummies phoning up for 23-year-olds saying
to me 'my son is too tired' [after a 48-hour week].'

He said 'I think
our European friends are much stronger, much tougher'. He said that throughout
his 20s, he worked 80 to 100 hours a week. People in restaurants now work much
shorter hours. Despite EU law, restricting people to a maximum of 48 hours a
week, 'they [Britons] still whinge about it'.

Oliver no stranger to controversy

Mr Oliver has caused considerable
controversy before. In 2005, he made a television series about school food in
which he highlighted the low cost and poor quality of food given to children in
UK state schools. The series prompted a change of policy by the government. The
next year, he secured an increase of £280m over three years in the schools food
budget.

In his Good Housekeeping interview, he also said that the
British poor often eat unhealthy and expensive food.

Monday, September 9, 2013

The UK's Office for National
Statistics has released figures which show that the latest net migration figure
has risen by 23,000. In the year to December 2012, the UK net immigration figure
stood at 176,000. In the year to September 2012, net immigration was 153,000.
This will be an embarrassment for the government which has pledged to reduce the
net immigration figure to below 100,000 by 2015.

Net migration is
calculated by finding the number of people who immigrated to a country and the
number of people who emigrated from it within any period and calculating the
difference. The UK has, for many years, experienced net immigration with fewer
people leaving than arriving.

During the last years of the previous
Labour government, the annual net immigration figure stood at about 260,000.
This led to considerable adverse comment in the UK's lively press.

Cameron pledged to reduce immigration to 'tens of thousands'

During
the 2010 election campaign, the Conservative leader David Cameron promised to
reduce net immigration to 'tens of thousands' a year. Since then, the government
has restated its commitment to reducing net immigration to below 100,000 by
2015, the date of the next general election.

David Cameron is now
the Prime Minister of the UK,
at the head of a Coalition government. His government has taken numerous steps
to cut immigration. It has

Scrapped two Tier 1 visas for 'high value migrants';

the Tier 1 (Post Study Work) visa which allowed international graduates from
UK universities to stay and work in the UK for two years after graduation

The Tier 1 (General) visa which allowed foreign graduates to work in the UK

Imposed a cap of 20,700 on the number of Tier 2 (General) visas (for 'highly
skilled migrants' that can be issued each year

Instituted more checks on universities and on international students to
prevent abuse of the Tier 4 student visa

Removed the licences from more than 500 further education colleges to
sponsor international students to come to study in the UK

The
net immigration figure has been falling slowly. Figures released in June showed
that net immigration was estimated at 153,000 in the year to September 2013. The
latest figures show a rise of 23,000 on this figure.

Numbers of 'New Commonwealth' immigrants down

A breakdown of the
figure shows

97,000 people came to the UK from 'the New Commonwealth' (The British
Commonwealth is an association of 54 countries which were part of the British
Empire. It is informally divided into the 'Old Commonwealth' which comprises the
former 'Dominions'; countries such as Australia and Canada which were heavily
colonised and ruled by the UK, and 'The New Commonwealth' which comprises other
countries also ruled by the UK such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka).
This was down from 151,000 the previous year.

58,000 arrived from the eight eastern European countries which joined the EU
in 2004. These countries include Poland and the Baltic States. This was down
from 77,000 the previous year.

The number of students coming to the UK was 180,000. This was down from
232,000 the previous year.

Critics of the government argue that the
steps taken to lower net immigration are damaging the UK's economy and could not
be sustained.

Sarah Mulley of the centre left Institute for Public
Policy Research said in March 2013 that the main method whereby the government
had reduced net immigration was by cutting the number of international students
studying in the UK. She said that this was not only extremely damaging to the
UK's economy, because international students bring a great deal of income to the
UK's education sector, but that it would also be impossible to continue to
reduce the figure.

She said that, because most students stay in the
UK for three years and then leave, they add to the emigration figure when they
leave. If you cut the number of emigrants, then the net immigration figure will
rise, because net emigration will fall.

'Radical changes' required if immigration is to be cut further

Ms
Mulley has said that the UK government needs to make 'radical changes which go
far beyond the student visa regime' if it wants to hit its target.

On
hearing of the latest figures she said 'Recent declines have been driven in
large part by falling numbers of international students, which has come at a
high economic cost, but this trend now appears to be levelling off'. She added
that it appears to be 'running out of options' to meet its
target.

Friday, September 6, 2013

A strike by Canadian visa and immigration staff has continued into its fourth month; there is currently no
sign of the dispute being resolved. Some overseas students at Canadian
universities are facing disruption to their academic studies because of the
delays in obtaining visas. This is a particularly bad time for this to happen as
the new academic year will start soon.

Citizenship and Immigration
Canada (CIC) is taking steps to try and reduce the disruption caused to overseas
student by expediting student visa applications and by encouraging students to
make online visa applications. Online student visa applications can be dealt
with by immigration staff in Canada who are not on strike.

The
Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO) began a series of
strikes on June 6th 2013. PAFSO staff work in Canadian embassies and consulates
around the world. The strike action began in six particularly busy locations;
Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi, Chandigarh, Manila and Mexico City.

Union argues its members are paid less than colleagues

The dispute
concerns pay for PAFSO members. PAFSO says that staff in foreign embassies and
consulates are paid less than their colleagues in equivalent positions in Canada. The Canadian
government rejects PAFSO's claim saying that staff in foreign locations are
given a series of allowances which compensate for lower basic
pay.

There is no resolution in sight at present. CIC has said that
foreign offices are open with limited staff so some applications are being
processed but students in particular are concerned about delays to the
application process.

Shawn Dearn of the Association of Canadian
Community Colleges told the Canadian broadcaster CBC that CIC had been
'prioritising student visa requests'.

Film festivals may suffer

Organisers of the Montreal World Film
Festival are also concerned that some prospective attendees may have difficulty
obtaining the visas in time. The Festival begins on 26th September. The
Vancouver International Film Festival may also be affected.

The
opposition parties; the New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party, have urged
the ruling Conservatives to negotiate with PAFSO to reach a
settlement.

Both opposition parties say that the government is to
blame for the dispute and should compromise to prevent further damage to
Canada's reputation. They say that Canada stands to lose billions of dollars in
international revenue.

Government says union demands are 'unjustified'

The Canadian
government has refused to compromise. It says that PAFSO's demands are
unjustified and it would be unfair to taxpayers to agree to
them.

PAFSO is attempting to force the government into arbitration to
settle the dispute. A decision from the labour board on this request is expected
shortly.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

American movie star Matt
Damon has told the British
national broadcaster The BBC that his new film, Elysium, is a metaphor for
immigration. Mr Damon was speaking to the BBC television's Breakfast
programme.

Elysium is directed by Neill Blomkamp. Mr Blomkamp was
born in South Africa but emigrated at the age of 18 to Vancouver on the west
coast of Canada. Damon told BBC interviewer Susannah Reid, 'The director didn't
want to make a 'message movie [but] he said to me "Look, I grew up in South
Africa. I emigrated to Vancouver when I was 18 years' old. The experience of
moving from a third world country to a first world country so completely
shattered me that, throughout my adult life, I have been expressing that in the
films I make."'

Elysium has been controversial in the US since its release. It has
been accused by Republican commentators of being a 'socialist' film and Damon
has been attacked for being less than frank when he says that the film is not
trying to impart a message.

'This is today. This is now'

Indeed, even the film's writer/director
seems to believe that the film has a political message. Neill Blomkamp told UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph
'"People have asked me if I think this is what will happen in 140 years, but
this isn't science fiction. This is today. This is now'

The film,
which was written and directed by Blomkamp, is set in 2154. The earth's
population lives in a poor, hungry and violent world except for the super-rich
who now live on a luxurious space station known as Elysium (the name for
paradise in Greek mythology).

The film's plot follows the efforts of
a group of 'illegal immigrants', including Max, played by Damon, as they attempt
to reach Elysium. Damon and his allies are confronted by the Elysian secretary
of defence, played by American actress Jodie Foster, who is prepared to use any
means necessary to stop them.

Tijuana trip inspired film

Mr Blomkamp also told Telegraph writer
John Hiscock that he had been inspired to write the film by an experience he had
in the Mexican border town of Tijuana. He told Mr Hiscock how he had been
arrested by police in Mexico while drinking beer in the street, unaware that
this was against the law. He and his friend had been driven away from the
tourist area by the police.

He explained how he and his friend had
given the policemen all their money and had eventually been released. By now,
they were in 'a poverty-stricken area with fires and feral dogs' from where they
had to walk back to the US border.

Blomkamp recounted how he could
see the border which was patrolled by high-tech black hawk helicopters as they
walked through the poverty of the Tijuana slums. He recounts 'it was the most
insane feeling I've ever had in my life'.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The director general of the Institute of Directors, Simon Walker, has said that
immigrant workers are vital for the UK's economy. Mr Walker was
responding to a speech by the opposition Labour Party's immigration spokesman,
Chris Bryant.

Mr Bryant made a speech on Tuesday 12th August 2013 in
which he bemoaned the fact that over 1m Britons aged under 24 were unemployed.
In the original draft of the speech, he criticised large British employers like
supermarket Tesco and clothes retailer Next for employing foreign workers to cut
costs.

He said that Tesco had staffed a new distribution centre in
Kent largely with eastern European labour and claimed that Next employed eastern
European workers to save money.

Tesco has no distribution centre in Kent

UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph
acquired an advanced copy of the speech before it was given and contacted Next
and Tesco. Both issued statements denying Mr Bryant's claims. Tesco said that it
does not have a distribution centre in Kent. Next said that it employs eastern
European staff in seasonal jobs because UK workers do not apply for
them.

By the time the speech was actually given, the criticisms of
Tesco and Next had been dropped from the speech.

Nonetheless, the
speech caused a small furore. Mr Walker who, as head of the Institute of
Directors, represents the interests of about 36,000 directors of UK businesses,
warned against any moves to discriminate against legal migrant labour in the UK
work force.

Discriminating against migrant labour would be illegal

He said
'Discriminating in any way against EU migrant labour would not only be illegal
and entirely contrary to all the principles of the free market, but would damage
Britain's growth prospects just as the economy is starting to take
off'.

Mr Walker said that there were good reasons why UK businesses
employ foreign workers and these did not involve discrimination against UK
workers.

He said that foreign workers are more likely to apply for
lower paid jobs than British ones. He said that the way that the UK benefits
system works means that it is understandable if British workers decide not to
take low paid jobs.

He said 'The fact that we [the UK has] a welfare
system with marginal deduction rates as high as 90% means that it can be
entirely rational for British welfare claimants to resist entering the
workforce. It often makes no financial sense for a [benefit] claimant to take a
low paid job'.

Foreign workers are better educated

He added that foreign-born
workers will often be picked instead of British-educated workers because low
standards in the UK educational system mean that foreign workers are better
educated.

He said 'The fact that international comparisons suggest
British education ranks 25th for reading, 28th for maths and 16th for science,
and that the UK is being overtaken by Poland and Estonia, tells its own
story'.

He called on the government to reform the welfare and
educational systems in the UK so that British workers were more likely to apply
for, and to get, jobs in the UK. 'What is needed is continuing urgent reform to
Britain's education and welfare systems in order to reverse the decline in the
employability of young British workers.'

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

A senior Republican Congressman has said that he is opposed to the creation of a
'pathway to citizenship' for all illegal immigrants in the US. This may signal a hardening
of attitudes of Republicans in Congress against immigration
reform.

The US Senate passed a bill in June 2013 that would, if it
became law, create such a pathway for most of the estimated 11.5m illegal
immigrants living in the US. For the bill to become law, however, it must also
be passed by the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives (known as
The House).

While a clear majority of American citizens support the
creation of a pathway to citizenship, the majority of Republican supporters
oppose it. And the House is controlled by the Republicans.

Substantial obstacle to bill's passage

Representative Bob Goodlatte
of Virginia, who is the chairman of the influential House Judiciary Committee,
has said that he opposes the creation of a pathway. The Judiciary Committee
would have to debate the bill and make amendments to it if the House voted on
the bill so his opposition is a substantial obstacle to the bill
passing.

Over the summer recess of Congress, many pro-reform groups
are attempting to put pressure on Republican Representatives to support the
reform bill but some are implacably opposed to any reform act that includes a
clause creating a pathway.

They say that such a provision would
amount to an amnesty and would reward illegal immigrants for their illegal
behaviour. They may also fear that their Republican Party members may seek to
have them replaced as candidates at the next election by anti-reform
alternatives if they vote for the bill.

Many Republicans oppose immigration reform

Immigration has been a
hot topic in Washington this year and so many Congressmen and women have spoken
out on the subject. While most Republicans have voiced opposition to the
Senate's reform bill, and in particular to the creation of a 'pathway to
citizenship' for illegal immigrants, some less extreme Republicans take a
slightly more conciliatory path.

They say that, while they oppose the
pathway for most illegal immigrants, they favour the creation of a pathway for
illegal immigrants who were brought to the US as children by their parents
and have since known no other home. These are the so-called
DREAMers.

DREAMers are named after a previous bill aimed at giving
this class of illegal resident a pathway to citizenship; the Development, Relief
and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2001. This bill, had it become law when it
was introduced in 2001, would have provided conditional permanent resident
status to some illegal immigrants who arrived in the US as children.

Goodlatte opposes 'pathway' for DREAMers

Now, Mr Goodlatte has gone
one further than his more moderate colleagues. He has told a right-wing radio
host that he opposes the creation of a pathway even for DREAMers.

He
told Hugh Hewitt, a radio host whose show is syndicated to more than 120 cities
in the US, 'Even for them, I would say that they get a legal status in the US
and not a pathway to citizenship that is created especially for them. In other
words, they get that legal status if they have an employer who says 'I've got a
job which I can't find a US citizen and I went to petition for them…but I
wouldn't give them the pathway to a Green Card and ultimately
citizenship'.

The Washington commentators Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas,
who write the Wonkbook blog for the Washington Post, say that it is likely that
Mr Goodlatte has hardened his stance because he is confident that the House
Republicans will vote against reform.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Figures released by the UK's
Office for National Statistics show that there are now 1.3m British graduates
living and working overseas. This is more than any other developed country.
Germany comes second with a mere 865,000. Only 400,000 US graduates live abroad
even though the population of the US is about 5.5 times that of the
UK.

The ONS figures show that 10% of graduates from leading British
universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and Exeter in 2011 have left the
country. 12% of 2011 graduates from St Andrews, the Scottish university where
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge studied, are now working
abroad.

The ONS figures also show that 154,000 British citizens left
the UK in 2012. This figure has risen by 20% over the last three years

'We live in a very mobile global market'

Conservative MP Nick de
Bois told UK newspaper The
Daily Telegraph 'We live in a very mobile, global market. People can look around
and they can judge where they want to go'.

Mr de Bois said that the
UK should seek to encourage these people to stay. He said 'We have got to
persuade these people that they should stay here. We are losing the professional
middle class'.

He said that many of those leaving were going to work
in aerospace, engineering, pharmaceuticals and creative industries in developing
economies 'because they can get a higher quality of life, a better education for
their children and a lower cost of living elsewhere'. He said 'We have to
convince these people, who we have invested so much in, to make Britain their
first choice. We have to continue to drive lower taxes; we have to keep driving
the change and reform in our public services'.

UK attracts more migrants than any other EU state in
2012

Meanwhile, the number of immigrants settling in the UK was the
highest in the EU in 2012. The UK's population rose by about 450,000 people and
about 40% of this, the statistics say, was down to immigration.